3 Ways To Improve Your Wine Menu
There are only two ways to earn money from your customer, food and booze. That’s where the mark up is. That’s why the customer has even walked through your doors; well, that and your awesome servers.
That’s why providing a great wine list is so important, you want people to feel comfortable using it. Great doesn’t mean huge either. A great wine list is helpful, organized and user friendly, it never assumes that the user has any wine knowledge. It is user friendly for everyone. Making your wine list outstanding is relatively easy. There are a lot of tactics but we will focus on the three pillars of a great wine list.
#1. Your wine ‘by the glass’ prices should make mathematical sense, to your bottom line, to your customer.
A. Your bottle Cost = What you charge your customer for 1 glass. (That number is the ideal, get as close to that number as you can.)
B. Price of 1 glass x 4 - $1 = Price of bottle to customer.
There is roughly 24 ounces of wine in a bottle. The standard wine pour is 6 ounces. It has recently been brought to my attention that 6 ounces is not the standard wine pour, but 5 ounces is. So I made some phone calls to some great restaurants: La Bernardin, 11 Madison Park, Cochon, Pok Pok, Girl & the goat, The Pit, Arun’s and Jaleo. What I learned is the standard pour was 50/50, between 5 and 6 ounces. So, if you want to do a 5 ounce pour, just multiply your glass price by 5. (I am still a fan of 6 ounces.) That comes out to 4 glasses of wine in one bottle. Now that you understand that, doesn’t it seem silly to charge more money for a bottle? Selling bottles potentially cuts down on labor resources and wine spoilage.
If you have an awesome wines by the glass list, it might be hard to implement 1A because sometimes awesome wines cost more. Just price your wine by the glass as near to the bottle cost as you can. Often times it will take 2 glasses to pay for the bottle. Oh well, sometimes that is what you need to do to provide a unique and kick-ass wines to your guests.
Here’s an example of the above formula:
One bottle of Estancia Pinot grigio costs your restaurant 12.00 to purchase. Let’s assume that $12 is too much to charge for one glass of wine. Instead price the glass at a fair $8 for your customer. Now, multiply the glass price by 4, now minus $1. The price you end up with is what you will charge your customers for a bottle of Estancia Pinot Grigio: $31.00 That mathematicaly works out. 6 ounces is $8, 24 ounces is $31.
Look at this real wine list:
(They are discouraging their customer from buying a bottle. Notice how the price of the bottle is more expensive than ordering 4 glasses of the same wine.)
- Gruner Veltliner, Berger, 2010 $ 6 / $35 +11
- Moscato D’Asti, Bosc dla Rei, 2010 $8/$35 + $3
- Riesling, August Kessler, 2008 $7/$30 + $2
- Sauvignon Blanc, Selene Hyde, 2007 9 /58 +22
- Barbera D’Asti, Prunotto ‘Fiulot’ 2008 $7/$30 + $2
- Merlot, Paso Creek, 2007 $7/$30 + $2
- Pinot Noir, Eyrie, 2007 $9 / $63 + $27
- Cabernet Sauvignon, Angeline, 2009 $7/$30 + $2
- Zinfandel, Cline ‘Ancient Vines,’ 2009 $8/$35 + $3
- Syrah, Les Piliers, 2009 $8/$35 + $3
Here’s what the above wines by the glass menu should look like; consistent, fair:
- Gruner Veltliner, Berger, 2010 $ 7 / $27 -1
- Moscato D’Asti, Bosc dla Rei, 2010 $9/$35 - $1
- Riesling, August Kessler, 2008 $8/$31 - $1
- Sauvignon Blanc, Selene Hyde, 2007 $10 /$39 -$1
- Barbera D’Asti, Prunotto ‘Fiulot’ 2008 $8/$31 - $1
- Merlot, Paso Creek, 2007 $8/$31 - $1
- Pinot Noir, Eyrie, 2007 $12 / $47 - $1
- Cabernet Sauvignon, Angeline, 2009 $8/$31 - $1
- Zinfandel, Cline ‘Ancient Vines,’ 2009 $9/$35 - $1
- Syrah, Les Piliers, 2009 $9/$35 - $1
I added a $1 increase to all btg prices then I multiplied the glass price by 4 minus $1 . That gave me the bottle price. Sell bottles whenever possible!
Now go fix your wine list, it’s easy!
- Tell your service staff that you have changed your prices. Tell them why. Tell them how you reached the prices. (There is no reason this should not be a secret.)
- It is imperative that everyone understands the cost effectiveness to the customer by them purchasing a bottle rather than 4 glasses.
- Knowledge is power, this will give your servers sales power.
- Some servers don’t like the feeling of “up-selling”, this removes up-selling, (or the feeling of it). It turns from up-selling to being helpful.
- Keeping your service team in the know creates a stronger team and a feeling of restaurant ownership.
- pro·gres·sive/prəˈgresiv/
Adjective: Happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step.
Synonyms: advanced - onward - forward
Your wine list is much easier to read by novices and connoisseurs alike if your wine list has an aim, a clear place that it is going, rather than making no sense or worse, listing by price. A great way to be progressive is by making your wine list go from the lightest wine to heaviest wine.
Here’s a wine list that is not progressive.
Question: What would you do if you didn’t know much, if anything, about wine but you knew you wanted something light and red? What would you order? What if your dinner companion wanted a big, buttery white wine. What would you order from this wine list? Now imagine you are shy, proud, or trying to impress your dinner companion. What do you do? You feel like a big dork don’t you?
White
Chanson/veire-clesse/burgundy/france ’08 7
Charles Krug /sauvignon blanc/napa valley/ca ’09 8
William Hill/chardonnay/napa valley/ca ’08 11
Terlato/pinot grigio/russian river/ca ’08 8
Hopler/pinot blanc/burgenland/austria ’09 9
Leitz/dragonstone/riesling/rhine/germany ’09 9
Kalin Cellars/chardonnay/sonoma county/ca ’95 18
Red
Como sur/pinot noir/chile ’09 6
Punto Final/malbec/mendoza/argentina ’09 6
Tangley Oaks/merlot/napa valley/ca ’08 6
First Press/cabernet sauvignon/napa valley/ca ’07 8
Chateau haut-la pereyre/bordeaux/france ’07 10
Carol Shelton/wild things/zinfandel/mendocino/ca ’05 11
Marques de murrieta/reserva rioja/spain ’05 12
Adelsheim/pinot noir/willamette valley/or ’09 13
m.d./earthquake/cabernet sauvignon/lodi ’08 13
Now, look at this same wine list done Progressively.
White Wines, from light and bright to heavy and serious.
- Hopler/pinot blanc/burgenland/austria ’09 9
- Charles Krug /sauvignon blanc/napa valley/ca ’09 8
- Chanson/veire-clesse/burgundy/france ’08 7
- Leitz/dragonstone/riesling/rhine/germany ’09 9
- Terlato/pinot grigio/russian river/ca ’08 8
- William Hill/chardonnay/napa valley/ca ’08 11
- Kalin cellars/chardonnay/sonoma county/ca ’95 18
- Como sur/pinot noir/chile ’09 6
- Marques de murrieta/reserva rioja/spain ’05 12
- Adelsheim/pinot noir/willamette valley/or ’09 13
- Punto Final/malbec/mendoza/argentina ’09 6
- First Press/cabernet sauvignon/napa valley/ca ’07 8
- Tangley Oaks/merlot/napa valley/ca ’08 6
- Carol Shelton/wild things/zinfandel/mendocino/ca ’05 11
- Chateau haut-la pereyre/bordeaux/france ’07 10
- m.d./earthquake/cabernet sauvignon/lodi ’08 13
What do you think? Do you like the progressive wine list? Here is how to re-vamp your wines by the glass list…
- Write down all of your wines by the glass on a piece of paper.
- Pour a one ounce tasting pour of all of your whites.
- Grab a co-worker or two with good palates.
- Swirl, smell, taste, talk.
- Swirl, smell, taste, talk some more.
- Start numbering the wines that you have written down starting with #1, the lightest.
- Work your way to the heaviest.
- If there was any disagreements (e.g. I think this Merlot is # 6 and you think it is #5) re-taste, re-swirl, re-talk about it until everyone agrees.
- Now, go print off your new wine list, rock-star!
#3. Explain Your Wines By The Bottle
This one will take you the most time, but it is possibly the most valuable for increasing wine bottle sales. If you give people a tool to understand the bottles that you carry and then if you give them time to use that tool at their leisure, you will have a happy customer. What do happy customers do? They tell their friends and come back.
Here is a small segment of a wine list you could find at any restaurant, U.S.A
Pinot Noir-Block Nine, Caiden’s Vineyard, california, 2011 $36.00
Pinot Noir-Emeritus, Hallberg Ranch, Russian River, 2009 $72.00
Zinfandel-Dashe, Dry Creek Valley, 2009 $42.00
Zinfandel- Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard, Russian River 2006 $90.00
Merlot- Keenan, Napa Valley, 2006 $55.00
Merlot- Pahlmeyer, Napa valley, 2007 $200.00
That same wine list with textual explanation
Pinot Noir-Block Nine, Caiden’s Vineyard, california, 2011 $36.00
Bright fruit, violets & hint of cocoa, silky with good body
Pinot Noir-Emeritus, Hallberg Ranch, Russian River, 2009 $72.00
Jammy red fruit, sweet oak and violet, long finish with little spice
Zinfandel-Dashe, Dry Creek Valley, 2009 $42.00
Black cherry and raspberry, chocolate & clove, good acidity, wonderful velvety texture
Zinfandel- Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard, Russian River 2006 $90.00
Blackberry, black raspberry, silky chocolate notes; dense texture & great power
Merlot- Keenan, Napa Valley, 2006 $55.00
Intense aromas of black cherry and cassis; nuances of cocoa & coffee bean
Merlot- Pahlmeyer, Napa valley, 2007 $200.00
A near perfect harvest, great body, intense fruit with amazing body & structure
Why textual explanations are so valuable to your wine list…
- Saves the wine director time by not having to go to every table to explain the wines.
- Saves your servers time by not having to explain the wines. And do your servers know the wines well enough to explain them? I was the only certified sommelier in our restaurant of 700+ bottles but I was not the wine buyer. That means I couldn’t explain all the wines. Do you overestimate your servers knowledge?
- Saves your servers face by preventing them from having to say “I don’t know” or worse, bullshitting their way through customers questions.
- This will make you more money and save you resources by:
- saving your bartender time by having to pour wines by the glass, they have other things they can be doing
- it makes you more money right now
- more wine bottles on tables gives other diners the inspiration to order a bottle; can you say “pack mentality”?
- it rotates your wine inventory
- It bulks up your wine list without having to add more wines. Your one page wine list can easily become 4+ of easy to navigate wines.
- Creates hospitality by giving the guest information without having to ask for it. (And if you think this will prevent customers from having a dialogue with the Sommelier you would be wrong. People that want to talk to the Sommelier are going to talk to the Sommelier regardless of anything.)
- For people that are shy or embarrassed to admit they have questions on wine, they can now sit at their table and and never feel confused or embarrassed.
And there you have it,…
…three ways to improve your wine list. Implement one or all, sit back and be amazed at the positive effects it will have on your business.